Friday, August 20, 2004

Responses

From a reader and fellow blogger:

Greetings!
Good post! I did one on this topic too and I really think a lot of the problems nowadays is that too many people get married for the wrong reasons, or not thinking far enough ahead.
I think a lot of divorces occur over frivolous stuff, or what I would consider frivolous anyway. I'm not talking about cases of abuse or infidelity of course but rather the 'irreconcilable differences' that seem to be the raison d'etre of divorce decrees. We're a disposable society now. If abortion can be dumbed down to pro-choice, dumping a spouse is really no big deal. Maybe that's a harsh analogy but I have underwear that has lasted longer than some of my friend's marriages
I hate giving them the credit but I think Hollywood and the celebrity scene does a lot to destroy the institution of marriage in and of itself. You got J-Lo who gets married and divorced and married again almost parallel to the phases of the moon. Brittany gets married and an annulment in less time than it takes me to get over a hangover. In an of itself you can chalk it up to a couple of dimwits but this makes major headlines. People see this and think what the heck, if they can do it what's the big deal?
But it is a big deal. One buddy I had who got divorced told me it was because she wanted to stay home when they had children and he didn't want her to do that since he felt they needed a dual income. I was dumbstruck, not over the issue of stay at home mom vs. working mom but that this was never discussed previously! Ok so maybe my wife and I went over all the big issues before hand but isn't that what you're supposed to do when you pledge yourself to someone? I think more people spend time discussing pros and cons of buying a house or car more than they do getting to know each other.
I have always held that the key to a successful marriage boils down to two things and in order of importance. 1)Love and 2)Compromise. The rest is gravy.
Cheers!
Steve (Eskimo)